Tag Archives: The PIT

The mad comedic & theatrical geniuses of Recent Cutbacks are back with a holiday show—and given the title of KEVIN!!!!!, you can probably figure out which Chris Columbus classic they’re covering this time around.

As with their wonderful past shows covered by GSAS!—Hold on to Your Butts and Fly, You Fools!—the team has made something at once instantly recognizable and wonderfully original that had the audience on the night I attended rapt, awestruck, laughing hysterically, and yet still touched by heartwarming holiday feels.

Listen in as the core company of director Kristin McCarthy Parker and actors Nick Abeel & Kyle Schaefer discuss the process of making this wonderfully creative piece, nostalgia, “making your stuff and putting it out there,” creating an experience that’s a shared communal joy among audience and performer, and why the world might need this kind of show right now.

“…we’re not giving you all of the pieces. We’re giving you 5 out of 10, or 8 out of 10, maybe sometimes, of the pieces. But you’re doing the last little bit to realize it in your mind. And I think that level of engagement with the piece…is such an enjoyable way to watch theatre…”

Waiting in the room for your audition can be brutal—it can start to feel like you’re living in Groundhog Day, seeing the same folks who play the same types that you do, waiting for the same similar roles, on the same similar kinds of projects, audition after audition, day after day…

Marina & Nicco‘s new show Room 4 takes that familiar actor struggle and makes it an actor hell, creating a No Exit kind of scenario where four actors realize that, indeed, the same audition call is starting to repeat itself. But, what starts as a brilliant concept for a fun, funny show becomes an incredible commentary on the state of the entertainment business (and, by extension, the United States) by adding in the fact that these are four black actors, all vying for the same stereotypical role in a standard crime procedural.

Biting, incisive, wonderfully-performed, and tears-streaming-down-your-face funny, Room 4 is a show that, as I say at the top of this interview, anyone listening to this podcast should go and see. You’ll have a blast in the room—and then you should have a great conversation at The PIT‘s bar afterward about what you’ve seen.

Listen in as the creators, Marina Tempelsman and Niccolo Aeed, and actor Temesgen Tocruray, discuss what stories you’re telling (and who you’re telling them for), writing for and with the actors in the ensemble, performing race in the theatre and for the people around you, using specificity to talk about universal issues, and how the arts can spark conversation and, eventually, change.

“I don’t know if we have a direct solution, I mean, other than ‘hire more black actors, directors, and writers.’ Give stage time to more diverse things, and don’t write necessarily for a white audience, write for your truth and honesty. But other than than, I think we wanted to really live in the moment, more than necessarily provide an answer…”Continue reading →

But luckily for all of us, they’re back, and this time, instead of dinosaurs, they’re taking on elves, dwarves, orcs, wizards, eagles, and, of course, hobbits, with Fly, You Fools!

On the mic are the show’s producer Allyson Morgan, as well as returning guests, director Kristin McCarthy Parker and performers Nick Abeel and Kyle Schaefer; and now, added to the team are performer Matt Zambrano, and foley artist Blair Busbee, all of whom sat in for a chat about their wonderful new show.

Listen in as the Recent Cutbacks team discusses why they moved to The Fellowship of the Ring from Jurassic Park, dancey, movementy, mimey things, the danger of inciting a nerd riot, finding the sound of your show as it continues to change, and how to deal with prop mishaps in real time.

“…in the rehearsal process, we sort of found that the more epic the film was, the less props we needed. We could get away with more, with less…actually, we don’t need these hundred wigs, or these extra props, when we can tell the story just through physicality. Which I think is actually more joyful for the audience…” Continue reading →

But what we haven’t yet heard on the podcast is a show in that most classic of classic radio genres: the murder-mystery.

Long-time comedy-and-sketch-writing duo Marina & Nicco remedy that, as they bring their comedic sensibilities to the old “group of strangers meet at a strange house for a party, and bodies start to drop” setup—but they’ve got a lot of twists, turns, and laughs for you along the way that are anything but formulaic.

It’s written in a serial format, so there are four different nights of live radio fun, each with two episodes, but never fear if you can’t catch them all: they’re podcasting the episodes, so you can catch up on prior plot-points on your way to The PIT to see future episodes!

(and yes, you are hearing the Jurassic Park theme in the background of this episode—which means you’ve got more chances to catch Hold On to Your Butts, which is back at The PIT, so listen to the episode on that one here, and try to catch a Murder!/HOTYB double-header!)

Listen in to this episode as the Marina & Nicco themselves, Marina Tempelsman and Niccolo Aeed, discuss answering sketchy Craigslist ads, writing to the form, and exploring foley by hitting everything in the hardware store with a hammer.

“…it just lends itself so well to being serialized…”
“…it’s funny and screw-bally, but we also got excited about making people get that feeling of, ‘what comes next?!?'”

But, if you look at it right, it can instead be a source of material for your creative projects.

At his day-job in a certain New York City comic-book landmark, Matt Cox found the inspiration for Kapow-i GoGo, the most epic fun you can have in a manga-and-video-game-inspired episodic comedy series, now running over several weeks at The PIT.

Listen in as Matt, as the show’s creator and writer (and portrayer of Mr. Snuggles), discusses how he came up with his blue-haired heroine, playing in your own piece, costuming on a budget, and working on a deadline.

“…sometimes I find I make funnier things up in the moment than I did when I was staring at my computer for ten hours…”

But in the case of Hold On To Your Butts, this isn’t straight imitation—while yes, it is a shot-for-shot live remake of elementary-school-you’s favorite movie (at least, elementary-school-me), it’s a madcap comic theatrical homage full of creativity, nostalgia (in the best of ways), and excitement. The team of director Kristin McCarthy Parker, actors Nick Abeel and Kyle Schaefer, and sound/foley artist Kelsey Didion, have recreated the sense of wonder and just plain FUN that you had when you first saw Jurassic Park back in 1994.

They’re sharing that magic with you at The PIT for just three more performances from when I post this, so don’t delay. It’s the kind of show that, if you don’t catch it, all your friends who did are going to be admonishing you for years to come, saying, “aw, man, I can’t believe you didn’t see that!” So take this podcast’s name to heart, and go see this show.

At the very least, listen in to this episode as Nick, Kyle, Kelsey, and Kristin discuss inspiration over beers, why Jurassic Park is the best movie of all time, and when the idea is just stupid enough that everyone in the room gives it a “YES.”

“…we found out that our happy place in terms of performance is where we’re doing something really stupid, but we’re really committed to it…really dumb, but really committed…”